Archive for the ‘Garage Sales’ Category

Dollar Store Deals, Yard Sale Finds, And More

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Deals Only purchases

I needed to pick up some things before we left for Portland, so I headed out to a few stores the weekend before last. The first was Deals Only, a local “Dollar” store that has expanded to sell other low-priced products as well as $1 items. They happened to have a sale on clothes, which they had gotten on liquidation from Fred Meyer, and I picked up a few pieces. I was in need of a “business casual” outfit for WordCamp, and I’m in-between sizes because I’m in the middle of losing weight, so I didn’t want to spend $20 at Ross for something that I won’t be able to wear in a few months. Fortunately, I found a skirt, tank top and sweater for $11 total, so that worked out well! I also picked up 6 packets of yeast for a total of $1.58. Jai bought 2 t-shirts (not pictured), and I also bought a bag of potato chips as a snack – which smelled rancid as soon as I opened them (Not pictured, for obvious reasons)! I forgot how important it is to check the expiry date on foods at that store. Final total for all purchases: $18.52 – click here to view the receipt.

Garage sale finds

I also stopped by an estate sale, which was offering a “Fill a bag with clothes for $1” sale. This was awesome, because I was able to get the suit jacket pictured above for a buck! I had quite a bit of space left in my bag, so I picked up the two dresses pictured just for fun.

Fred Meyer

I also stopped by Fred Meyer:

Total spent: $47.88 – will get $3.99 back in rebates
View receipt

The majority of the cost for this trip went to shoes and hair bleach!

Got:

1 pair of shoes – this was a tricky one, because I’m still having knee problems and can’t wear most shoes. I needed a pair of decent shoes to wear with a suit, but heels are obviously out of the question; so it was hard to track down anything that would work. I lucked out with this pair of shoes, which are presentable flats that seriously feel like slippers inside. Price: $15
1 box of hair bleach – still lightening my hair! Price: $9.99
1 bottle of facial cleanser – I spotted this on the shelf with a “Try-me-free” rebate form attached. I love trying new skin care products! Cost out of pocket: $3.99, which will be refunded to me, making my total expenditure a .44 stamp to mail the rebate in.
1 package of toilet paper – price: $4.89
1.3lbs of zucchini – price: $1.02
1 quart of half & half – price: $1.29
1 gallon of milk – price: $1.99
.44lbs of yellow onion – price: .21 cents
1 package of Q-tips – price: $1.99
1 package of tofu – price: $1.59
1 packet of floss – price: $1.29
1 bottle of shave gel – price: $2.00
1 can of tomato sauce – price: .33 cents
1 Sunday paper – price: $2.50

Posted in Fred Meyer, Garage Sales | 2 Comments »

Earning Money From My Stockpile

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

While I was holding my estate sale this past weekend, I thought I’d make a little extra cash by selling some of my spare stockpile items. Remember some of the great catalina deals that I’ve talked about in the past for Glade Plug-Ins and Windex? Those deals served me well, and saved me massive amounts of money. And when all was said and done, I had more of those products than I needed, so I decided that I would sell the surplus as soon as we had a garage sale. And it worked out well!
I put out a bag full of plug-ins and a big tub full of Windex which I priced at $1.00 each. Most stores around here sell these items for around $3.99 (!), so it’s a good deal if you use those products. All the Windex sold out before I even had a chance to take a photo, and as you can see, the Glade supply was also pretty diminished. I wish I had counted how many plug-ins were in the bag – I think there were about 20 altogether. I sold 12 bottles of Windex total, along with all of the plug-ins, so in all I made about $32.00 off products that were free to begin with! Better than free, actually, because I made such a profit off the catalinas that these products generated in the first place.

This is an example of how your stockpile can really work in your favor. I think people get turned off by the idea of coupons because they don’t want to have cupboards full of junk – but it’s all about having a smart strategy. I abhor clutter, and I’m not big on keeping things around that don’t serve a purpose. My Windex/Glade stockpile has been very useful to me, in so many ways:

Supermarket Savings: These products generated catalinas that saved me tons of money on other groceries that I needed at the time. When buying Glade plug-ins can get me $32 worth of produce, cheese, coffee, and more for only .17 cents, I’m all for it!
Items I Use: I like these products anyway, so I’m glad to have some extra on hand – I use the all-purpose Windex on a daily basis. But I definitely don’t need 60 bottles of it, which brings me to my next point.

Care Packages: I’ve been able to give lots of Windex and Glade away to my family and friends. Who doesn’t like free stuff, especially when it’s something practical? I love being able to share my freebies, and I’ve also cleared out some excess this way.

Donations: I’ve also been able to donate some of these supplies to local organizations. If you see a great money-making coupon deal, but hesitate because you don’t know what to do with all the excess, there are many charities and organizations that will glady take it off your hands.

Garage Sale: And, finally, you can profit once again by selling some of your stockpile at a garage sale. My Glade and Windex supply sold out quickly, and I’ve heard of other couponers having similar success.

Have you ever sold stockpile items at a yard sale? Or have you put your stockpile to some other creative use that wasn’t covered here?

Posted in Garage Sales, Stockpile | 1 Comment »